I wish injuries weren't part of the game

While I'd sure like the United States to do well at the World Cup, I feel sorry for the England team. Now, John Terry got himself into trouble with the ladies, and that I don't worry about; but the Brits have had a real run of bad luck with injuries. Ashley Cole (despite his problems at home) broke an ankle and is trying to rehab, and just this weekend David Beckham tore an Achilles tendon and is out of the World Cup. He was trying to be the first (?) player to play in four World Cups.

Injuries are part of the game, any sport where there is contact and danger. But I wish that they were less a part of the game. I really feel for the fans of a team
that has high hopes when a star player goes down and out for an extended period of time with an injury. Baseball pitching is one of those things that can come and go in a very short period of time due to injuries. Football (American), obviously; several players have had to retire early due to concussions, and I still wish Bo Jackson hadn't had a hip injury that knocked him out of both baseball and football, where he could have had a legitimate chance to be in the Hall of Fame for both sports. Hockey is now trying to deal with head injuries and head-hunting, and this might have resulted in an over-reaction to an Alex Ovechkin push on Sunday.

Tennis has had its share of problems, too: the marketing mavens pushing the women's game probably sure hope that Maria Sharapova can get over her shoulder woes and win a couple more Grand Slams, and pose in more bikinis and sell more cameras. Tennis, compared to golf, takes a lot more effort to make considerably less money (though obviously top players make a decent living). On the men's side, go-for-broke Rafael Nadal is going to have to figure out how to play so he doesn't pound his knees so much, or his career will end up being classed as cometary.

Basketball is in the same boat; Cleveland is crossing its fingers that Shaquille O'Neal's finger heals by the playoffs. In college, Purdue is in the big dance but may go out early because their center is out with a knee injury.

There's an ongoing issue in sports like basketball and soccer and volleyball with girls who seem to have a propensity for tearing their ACLs when making a simple jumping move that they've done hundreds of times before. This one really bothers me (sports trainers, too), partly because it's hard to figure out why it happens.

Yes, injuries are part of the game, but that doesn't mean I have to like them. No one does -- except for the teams and fans of the teams that benefit when a star player on an opposing team gets hurt. Of such stuff are upsets made; but those aren't the kind of upsets I like. I like teams to perform at their best, and when an upset is the result of one team (or player) playing above the level that was thought to be their best -- that's good competition.